Her lips were a shade of pink that looked so inviting, and staring at their fullness made him heady with desire. Dizziness swamped him and made his loins brim with heat. He found himself leaning closer to her again when he noticed she had a cut on her cheek very close to her lips, and another on the side of her forehead.
He lifted a hand, and she sniffled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as if she were scared of him. His eyes searched her face, and her expression tugged at his heart. Killian felt the strange need to reassure her that he had no intention of hurting her, even though he knew full well she would not believe a word he said.
“I willnae hurt ye,” he whispered, hating himself for how gentle he sounded. He knew he needed to be fiercer if he was going to scare her into obedience, but he could not find it in him to frighten her.
Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked at him while still pressed against the wall like she wanted it to envelop her.
Killian reached for the cut on her forehead, gently brushed a finger over it, and growled under his breath.
“Ye hurt yerself,” he continued in the same low tone.
His pulse hammered so loud. He had never felt that kind of rush before. It awakened something in him and stirred a passionate response that nearly made him lose his mind and bury his face in the crook of her neck so he could inhale her scent properly.
Killian stepped back from her before he gave in to the maddening thoughts crossing his mind. “I have a salve that can help, and a tonic that can help with the pain. I ken it must hurt.”
Lily pressed her lips into a tight line. “It does not hurt. I do not need your help.”
Killian sighed. He turned away from her and reached into the sporran attached to his kilt. He took out a vial, walked back to her and placed it in her hand.
“How do I know you are not trying to poison me?”
“If I wanted ye dead, I would have killed ye before leavin’ McLennan Castle and dumped yer body for yer people to find,” he growled, annoyed that she was still fighting him even when he was trying to help her.
Her eyes widened in shock before she mellowed and tried to open the vial with her tied hands. Killian saw her fumble with it. He cursed under his breath at the urge to help her again, then snatched the vial and opened it for her.
After she drank and licked her lips, he turned away from her and began taking off his clothes.
Lily said nothing, but he could hear her raspy breaths when he slid out of his léine and then his hands moved to his kilt before he turned to her. Lily remained frozen in the same spot, and Killian saw her eyes roam over the full length of his body before she swallowed hard.
He felt the burn of her gaze drilling into his skin, and he could tell she was nervous. She had no reason to be, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.
The more nervous she gets, the better. I might be able to get her to fear me at least and stop trying to run away.
Without hesitating a second time, he took off his kilt and stood only in his undergarments. “Try to rest. We have much ground to cover tomorrow,” he said before moving to the bed.
He pulled the sheets over his body and lay on his side with his back to her when she moved to the bed and sat on the other side.
“Are we sharing this bed?”
“Do ye have a better idea?”
“Surely you cannot expect me to keep calm in such a situation. Do you have any sisters? Would you let them sleep alone with a strange man who has tried to kill them more than once in the same day? Who kidnapped them from their home?”
Killian rolled over to his side and faced her. “Are ye always this loud?”
“I am many things,” she retorted.
“Good for ye. Now, stop talkin’ and get under the covers, before I make ye.”
“No,” she challenged. “I will not.”
Goodness.
Killian moved up, pulled her down on the bed while she gasped, then pulled the sheets over their bodies. Now that she was pinned beneath him again, her eyes wild, her hair spread out on the pillows, Killian could think of a million things he could do to her right there and then.
Things that would make her moan passionately, giving me the pleasure of hearing that breathless sigh again, feeling her supple skin beneath mine, and hearing her beg for my touch.
Lily was not the kind of woman to beg, but he still wondered if he could make her plead for his touch. He imagined her cheeks would flame if he lowered his lips to hers, and she would whimper, then melt into him like she had when he had searched her body for weapons earlier.
